A Cheap and Portable Word Processor?

An anonymous reader asks: "Last evening I was waiting for a bus and realized that it would be very nice to have a little portable word processor; not a fancy PDA, but something with a bare minimum of processing power, small screen, and a cheap mini-keyboard, so that it could fit in a jacket pocket. It doesn't seem like an infeasable product - consider the price that all-in-one 8-bit game machines like the C64 DTV go for, add that to the price that the cheap organizers go for, and you get a retail value under $50. The only major difference would be in the software, and with some attention given to expansibility it might even be a decent device for homebrews. Does Slashdot have any thoughts on what might fill these gap, or is there really no product that tries to be small, cheap and low-powered like what I'm looking for?" "When I got home, I did a search for any such devices, and came up with two choices: bulky 1980s machines with outdated connectivity options, found on eBay for pennies - some of these are actually programmable too, interestingly enough; and overpriced 'educational' machines which are almost equivalent to the 80s machines (over $200 or even $300). Electronic organizers are going for under $20, but they are woefully limited machines. The only other cheap option is to get a used PDA."

Comments

Google??

[l810c]

I took your exact article title and put it in Google

The very first hit led me to these two devices which seem to fit the bill exactly.

Alphasmart
Quickpad

Re:Google??

[torinth]

I took your exact links and put them into my browser.

The very first link led me to a device priced at 800% of what the person reasonably expected. The second led me to one that only cost 400% more.

So no, neither of your links, nor their smartass delivery, fit the bill very well at all. It's pretty clear that he was already aware of these too, having made indirect reference to their kind in the article.

Re:Sidekick

[winkydink]

I see you glossed right over battery life and the lack of a replaceable battery. Both were deal-killers for me. Well, than and there was no desktop sync software (has T-Mo finally released this?) No way was I entering 900+ contacts using that itty bitty kybd.

I've always wanted one.

[OrangeTide]

I've always wanted some cheap portable device designed for taking notes, hacking etc. sort of a sub-$100 electronic notepad w/ a decent keyboard.

The Psion Revo/Diamond Mako was pretty close. It had a nice wide display (but it wasn't backlit), a decent keyboard (for being a 1/3rd size keyboard), a pen interface (for drawing a picture in your notes), and my favorite part is that it was a clamshell design so you could just fold-and-go.

The draw backs were that when it was new it was fairly expensive (I got mine for $50 new, but that's because the stores were just trying to get rid of them). And it had no flash memory (you let the batteries run down and you've lost everything since your last backup), and no way to insert external memory (MMC/SD/CF would have been nice).

A less powerful pda in the same form factor that sold for a little bit more than those "pocket organizers" would seem like a good idea to me. If oyu make it close enough in price to a pocket organizer, but flexible enough to do more than just addresses that'd be great.

Honestly I don't need a 400Mhz cpu, color screen, wireless headset, and 64Mb of RAM. Especially if it means I will have a $300+ device in my pocket that can get broken or stolen.

What would be neat is some arm-thumb or 68hc11 device with an MMC/SD slot(the interface to those is dead simple to do). Running maybe Contiki or some other 8-bit, but "modern" OS.

Although they have compactflash readers(look for SuperCard) for Gameboy Advance, and it's not hard to wire a small or fullsize keyboard into a GBA. You could probably build yourself something interesting with a cheap used gba and some hot glue. :)

TI calculator + keyboard

[Geoffreyerffoeg]

Take a regular TI graphing calculator (you might have one already from high school or college) and add the TI Keyboard. If you have a computer uplink of some sort for the calculator (either a GraphLink or on-board USB for the newer models), you can transfer your documents to MS Word.

(Vernier's not the only source; they're just one of the cheaper ones. TI doesn't sell the keyboard directly anymore.)

Psion Series 5 (look it up)

[jolyonr]

Now available cheap. Someone will come along and tell you who sold/branded it in the US - but it does exactly what you want in the way you want it to. No messy external keyboards, decent keys, just enough CPU to perform, etc. etc.

Jolyon

Like a mini Alphasmart Dana?

[mjprobst]

This is something I would really like. PDAs are too small to type on. I type at 115 wpm and can't stand using PDAs at all, yet there are things I'd like to do without the power consumption, size, and weight of a full laptop.

I'd love something like the Alphasmart Dana except in clamshell style. Doesn't need to be incredibly tiny, just as big as a small keyboard.

Unfortunately, even if I liked the size of this device, it costs around $600. Smaller and cheaper than a laptop, my butt. I'm currently using a used IBM T21 laptop that cost $425.

PSION 3c or 5x!!

[wernst]

Were it not for the need for wireless comunication, I would *still* be using my beloved Psion 3c as my daily PDA. While its time-scheduling abilities were top-notch, it came with, IN THE ROM, a very good word processor, spreadsheet, and flat-file database.

The 3c has a small, but complete, keyboard, and typing with two fingers, I could get 20-25 wpm. It has a built-in spell checker, 80-column wide screen by at least 10 or 14 lines, can print to many printers, and with PsiWin software, import and export MS Word and Excel files seamlessly. And it runs for weeks on a pair of AA's, and there's a good backlight.

The 5mx has bigger keys, a touchscreen, and a prettier GUI, along with all the benefits described above.

Both fit in a hip or coat pocket easily. Both connect to a PC via a serial port, and your PC probably still has one of those.

Check ebay for units with PsiWin software. Then Google around for a huge library of 3rd party software.

Yes, they are both old, but Psion had more PDA experience in 1992 than Palm has now. Psion software is almostly always amazingly good.

I use a top-o-the-line color wireless Palm these days, but I still think my Psion 3c had it beat in almost all areas relating to software, power, and convenience.

Re:PSION 3c or 5x!!

[tyagiUK]

I used to use a Psion series 3 (http://www.psion.com/) as a portable PDA/word processor. In fact, when I was at university, I wrote entire chapters of my projects on it while in a coffee bar or any area away from the network. It was portable, had a usable keyboard once you got used to it, and had some great applications. PC connectivity was over serial and I just dumped all my edits in plain text and imported them later to whatever app I was using on the desktop system.

One good thing was that I was using LaTeX at the time, and just marked up the text appropriately. Therefore, when it was dumped to my Linux desktop, I could just build the LaTeX and it was ready formatted.

The Series 5 was a good step forwards from the 3, with more power, better screen, stylus input etc. There's some info on it over at Geek.com: http://www.geek.com/hwswrev/pda/psionser5.htm.

If you can pick one up off Ebay, there's a great user community still there. Cheap now, too.

Re:Pencil/Paper

[jhoger]

I'd say the difference is the input and output requirement.

You need a good keyboard, and you need a good display.

Here's the short list of true-portable laptops to check out:

Tandy WP-2
TRS-80 Model 100
Tandy 102
Tandy 200
Cambridge Z88
Amstrad NC100 or NC200'

All of these are 8-bit CPUs. Last for between 10 and 20 hours on battery (!!!). Available for between $10 and $50 on Ebay. Doesn't get cheaper than that.

Or the Alphasmart Dana which is basically a Palm V with a bigger screen. USB, IR, and memory slot.

Except for Dana, The interface for downloading to PC is serial port. You may need a $10 adapter if you only have USB on your machine.

-- John.

Re:Go used

[WhyCause]

I was going to say the exact same thing (good thing I read the comments first), but I have two things to add.

There are two companies (first for North America, the second for elsewhere), that will provide service for the Psion handhelds (your biggest concern will be batteries for the Revo/Mako models). So the fact that these machines are 5+ years old shouldn't be a real problem.

If you do decide to go the Psion route, go for the 5mx or the Revo Plus (also sold as the Diamond Mako in the US). These were incremental upgrades to the originals that had solutions for some hinge problems the first versions had. I got bit by both hinge problems (Series 5 and original Revo), and I ended up with a Diamond Mako. One of the best purchases I ever made. If I have a choice (I probably won't), EPOC/Symbian handhelds with a keyboard will be the only handhelds I will ever buy. I keep hearing rumors that Nokia may be releasing an upgraded Revo-style handheld (NOT a cell phone), but I think I'm just grasping at straws there.